June 11, 2025
Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry continues her new series about the Founding Fathers of Plymouth Colony, featuring John Alden. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.
Our Pilgrim father featured today is Mayflower passenger John Alden and his descendants.
Alden was not a Separatist. He was hired for the journey as the cooper (barrel maker). Historian Caleb Johnson noted that Alden was related, by marriage, to the Mayflower’s master Christopher Jones.
Alden’s first home in Plymouth Colony is long gone, but there is a marker to show where he first laid his hat in the colony
In 1628, Alden acquired land in Duxbury, Massachusetts, near the Bluefish River. He became a prominent leader in the Plymouth Colony and held several high positions of public service, including a term on the Governor’s Council of Assistants and serving as acting governor.
He was the last surviving signer of the Mayflower Compact upon his death in 1687.
John Alden and Priscilla Mullins: A Love Story
His marriage to Mayflower passenger Priscilla Mullins became a story of legend and the couple produced many descendants.
On Thanksgiving Day in 1990 a proud Alden father was blessed with a baby girl, Aubrey Olive Alden. The little arrival was the buzz of the Mayflower Society, Pilgrim Hall Museum, and Alden Kindred Society.
The Patriot Ledger covered the story about this 7-pound sturdy-stock Mayflower scion and her famous ancestors.
This article reports:
PLYMOUTH – Three-hundred and sixty-nine years after the most famous Pilgrim couple sat down to the first Thanksgiving dinner, their descendants are giving thanks for the arrival of the newest Pilgrim.
Aubrey Olive Alden, the great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter of Mayflower passengers John and Priscilla Alden, was born Thanksgiving Day in the town where her ancestors landed in 1620.
“She can brag about it all her life – being a real Mayflower mascot,” said Caroline Kardell, historian general for the Mayflower Society.
“It’s absolutely adorable,” said Hope Thurlby, assistant director of the Pilgrim Hall Museum.
John and Priscilla Alden are among the most famous first residents of Plymouth Colony. John Alden’s Bible and wooden ware from his home are displayed in the Pilgrim Hall Museum. The house he built when he moved to Duxbury still stands and is open to visitors in the summer.
The pair were immortalized in a poem, The Courtship of Myles Standish, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in 1858. The poem tells the story, which historians say is myth, of John Alden asking Priscilla Mullins if she would marry Alden’s shy friend Myles Standish.
In the poem, Mullins asks, “Why don’t you speak for yourself, John?” and marries Alden instead.
The Aldens were among those who celebrated the first Thanksgiving dinner in the New World. The couple had nine children.
“The Aldens were a prolific bunch,” Kardell said. “I’m glad to know they are continuing it right up to today.”
Clara Clapp, secretary of the Alden Kindred Society, estimates there are about a million Alden descendants in the world. One thousand belong to the society.
The baby’s father, William Alden III, said yesterday he [and his wife Paula St. Germain Alden] was urged by nurses on the obstetrics ward of Jordan Hospital to name the baby Priscilla after her famous ancestor.
But he and his wife refused and instead chose Aubrey from a song by the rock group Bread.
“We decided we have enough Priscillas,” Alden said. “We wanted something a little different.”
“Now we not only have the thanks of giving of the New World, but we also have the thanks of giving of a new life,” Alden said.
Below is a newspaper spread showing scenes from the poem.
Alden Family Reunions
I came across some old images taken at Alden family reunions.
This photo caption reads (left to right):
Priscilla Alden Wadsworth
The namesake, in the ninth generation, of Priscilla, the “flower of Puritan maidens.” [She was born to Nathan Stuart and Marian M. (Alden) Wadsworth, and married Roland Alfred Payne/Paine, son of Freeman B. and Sarah J. (Delaney) Payne/Paine, and left descendants.]Mrs. William Pitt Fessenden
Of Middleboro, Mass., a direct descendant in the ninth generation of “Priscilla, the Puritan maiden.” Mrs. Fessenden bears a striking resemblance to the typical Puritan maiden, as portrayed in the best-known pictures of her famous great-great, etc., grandmother. [She was born Flora Belle McGregor to John and Mary (Robinson) McGregor.]Miss [Augusta] Ella Alden
Who is in charge of the arrangements for the reunion of the descendants of John Alden. [She was born to Charles Lucas and Elizabeth Caroline (Hudson) Alden, and married Willard W. Jones, son of William H. and Evelina (Byron) Jones.]
The article also mentions John Alden, son of John and Hannah (White) Alden, who lived to be 103 years old.
Below is his portrait, painted by Cephas Thompson.
I found his obituary in the Farmer’s Cabinet. He died on 27 March 1821.
This article reports:
DIED – In Middleborough, [Massachusetts,] the venerable John Alden, in his 103d year. His great grandfather, whose name he bore, as did also his grandfather and father, was one of the first settlers of New England – being one of the number who accompanied the Rev. Mr. Robinson from Europe to America, in 1620 – and is said to have been the man who first stepped upon the Plymouth Rock. His grandmother [Hannah (White) Alden] was the daughter of Peregrine White, who was the first English male child born in New England.
John Alden left many descendants. He married Lydia Lazell and 2nd Rebecca Weston, and fathered many children.
The group photo below was taken in 1902 at an Alden family reunion at the Alden House in Duxbury. We see (left to right): Dr. Charles E. Farnham, 63, of Randolph; James Alden, 79, of Abington; on his lap Bertha Evelyn Alden, 3 months old, daughter of Frank and Bertha (Thom) Alden and granddaughter of the Alden House owners John Windsor Jr. and Sylvia J. (Burgess) Alden; and Seth Alden, 80, of Fairhaven. The Alden House is the photo on the right.
Here are more photos from the Alden family reunion in 1902. The photo on the left shows the orator for the event, Rev. Margus Alden Tolman, son of James Penniman and Sarah (Alden) Tolman. The photo on the right is Myles Standish Alden, 7, in full costume befitting his ancestor. He was one of the eight children born to Charles LaForest and Bessie L. (Wheeler) Alden.
More coming…
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Note on the header image: “Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor,” by William Halsall, 1882. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
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